MOSCOW. Sept 23 (Interfax) - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said de-centralization of budget revenue and faster social sector spending growth will be possible when reforms in the armed forces are complete.
"I hope that after we complete reorganization and reconstruction of the armed forces, on which a lot of money is being spent, we can configure our budget somewhat and then see faster growth in spending on education, healthcare and science," Medvedev said at a Federation Council Chamber Council meeting Monday.
The budget currently has a shift toward financing spending in the enforcement sector, because this sector was not financed for 10-15 years, he said. "In principle, this period will end sooner or later - the high spending on defense and security. This is right because we are a big country, a nuclear country, a vast country. But on the other hand other spending is suffering and other aspects of our lives," he said.
The question of surplus centralization of revenue at a federal level was raised at a meeting with the head of the Federation Council Budget Committee Vladimir Petrov. He said 67% of revenue is concentrated at a federal level and 33% at a regional level. He said this should be amended in favor of the regions.
Medvedev said "for the federal budget and the federal state this proportion is not optimum. Clearly the stronger the budgets are in the regions the easier it is to resolve a huge number of tasks."
Medvedev said Russia needs to strive for the ratio to change in favor of the regions. "But at the same time we need to understand that there are various federal functions that cannot ever be transferred to the regions."